The Cats of St. Nicholas

The last few months at North Dakota Quarterly have been a flurry of activity. We’re preparing a volume for publication, we have a new publisher, we’ve moved offices, and I’m learning the ropes as the new editor.  I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have the former managing editor Kate Sweney around to guide me,

Is Shakespeare Still Relevant?

Our friends over at the Institute for Philosophy in Public Life have a conversation with Adam Kitzes on whether Shakespeare is relevant today. Adam is not only a scholar of Shakespeare at the University of North Dakota, but also a member of the NDQ editorial board (and a sometime contributor to

A Cocktail Fit for a Quarterly

The essence of connoisseurship is simplicity, and I’m talking about the kind that’s born from respect rather than resignation. Taste is all about knowing how to spot and, then, how to avoid hyperbole. It manifests as a disdain for the overwrought and inauthentic and, sometimes, as a quest for its

On Bump Outs, Logistics, and Citizenship in a Small Town

Over the last few months, I’ve been contributing some short essays on small town life from North Dakota Quarterly’s back yard in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Here’s one, In Praise of Trucks, and another, Alone Together in a Small Town. Maybe someday, I’ll write a little book or something.  – Bill Caraher,

Welcome Our New Poetry Editor: Paul Worley

It is my pleasure to announce the appointment of a new poetry editor at North Dakota Quarterly, Paul Worley. The name might be familiar to readers of the NDQ website because we have already collaborated with Paul in publishing his translation of Tsotsil Maya poetry, Snichimal Vayuchil (Flowery Dream) for a

Alone Together in a Small Town

In the summer months, I spend a part of my week on the lovely Grand Forks Greenway system in my hometown of Grand Forks, North Dakota. The walking and cycling paths of the greenway run for some dozen miles along the Red River of the North adjacent to downtown and

We’re Moving

North Dakota Quarterly is moving a few doors down in historic Merrifield Hall on the lovely campus of the University of North Dakota. As a result, I’m sitting in an office full of boxes and empty bookshelves. In fact, most of my job as editor of North Dakota Quarterly has

A Quiet Place to Hide

Congratulations to William Jensen, whose short story “A Quiet Place to Hide” (NDQ 83.3/4 (2016) was recognized in the 2017 Best American Mystery Stories. We (and the author himself!) missed this honor this past fall when we celebrated the other authors whose work was noted in the  2017 edition of Best

In Praise of Trucks

I had been home from my summer field work for about 24 hours when I found myself in our yard, cleaning up branches from a major summer thunderstorm. For the next five or six days, I watched pick-up trucks full of fallen limbs, brush, and other debris transport their crumpled

I Let My Tape Rock ’til My Tape Popped: Music and Media in the 21st Century

By Bill Caraher A couple weeks ago my friend David Haeselin posted a nice review of Deerhunter’s Double Dream of Spring on the North Dakota Quarterly page. I’ve listened to the album, and I can’t really find much to say about it (and certainly can’t say anything as eloquent as Dave has).

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